Do not treat us according to our sins.

For us our homeland is in heaven.

He causes his sun to rise on bad men as well as good.
And his rain to fall on honest and dishonest men alike .
A good rule , the can’t is not as good as the could.
To accept does not mean that you have to like .

The criticism and abuse was wearing me down.
Then I remembered, soon we will be dead and gone.
Everything then falls into perspective, the up and the down.
Who then will remember or care when we are gone.

What did he say, love your enemies.
And pray for those who persecute you.
Think not of decades but centuries.
And not of ours but the other crew.

In all a sense of proportion.
Avoids so much distortion.

…….

Love those who love you
Well that is all so easy
It’s the other bit that hurts

……

See Matthew 5 : 43-48

Anyone who is angry with his brother.
Must answer for it before the court.
We just have to accept every another.
And make sure , before it erupts , our anger is caught.

Yesterday I stood in the basement of an office in Westminster.
I was standing in a trickle of water .
It was the Tyburn River.
My thoughts passed to where the gibbets were.

Here a comfortable modern office block.
Then the martyr’s  rope and misery.
Thus flows time’s unregarding clock.
Now just the commuter’s delay, then grave injury.

I thought back to these words , forgive your brother.
Hardly surely too much bother .

……..

Forgive your brother
Surely that’s not hard to do
But it really is

……..

See Matthew 5 : 20- 26

Remember Lord , reveal yourself .

At the time of our distress.

This is a wicked generation, it is looking for a sign.
The only sign it will be given is the sign of Jonah.
Four times the Gospel mentions the word sign .
Am I searching for a sign .

Is it because at first we duck our mission.
Then sometimes we relent and do our duty.
Is this the true lesson.
We will be alright, we can find true beauty.

But what is our mission.
What are we required to do.
How will we find fruition.
They who do are so few.

Help me find my resolve.
Before I  finally dissolve.

…….

The sign of Jonah
But then what is Jonah’s sign
Ah I wish I knew

…….

See  Luke 11: 29-42

Yes , if you forgive others their failings.

I have not come to call the virtuous .

Then will your light shine like the dawn.
And your wound be quickly healed over .
Forgiving love is like a sword drawn.
A new  limitless Passover.

Is that what you call fasting.
Is that the sort of fast that  does please.
My fast is so inadequate , hardly testing.
Almost  I’m afraid quite a breeze.

I have promised to give up social media.
At least not reading all the hate .
There’s just too much multimedia.
And so much which does grate .

We can’t always do what’s right.
So we use try and know what’s right.

……..

How much should we fast
Whatever we can manage
There is a balance

…….

See Isaiah 58: 1-9

 
Man who is merely a breath.
Whose life fades like a shadow.
Even content, ours is merely a living death.
Now we are above , soon we will be below.

For anyone who wants to lose his life will save it.
But anyone who loses his life for my sake will save it.
As so we know we will be lifted from the pit.
As long as we attempt to follow his writ.

How these words of his revive me in setbacks.
Even today they helped  me .
Despite all the many kickbacks .
Now I feel more clearly can I see.

So there will always be disappointment.
But we must not fall prey to resentment.

………

So our life passes
Like a shadow ,a mere breath
But then is reborn

………

See Vespers of Today , Psalm 143 and Luke 9 : 22-25

 
For he is all tenderness and compassion.
Slow to anger , rich In graciousness.
And for him , where is our passion.
And of course there’s our ungratefulness.

I am at the Cathedral listening to Alegri’s Miserere.
Its haunting refrain never fails to move .
We can only keep going despite a tear.
But this sadness too does soothe.

We feel so inadequate.
That our faith is so weak.
But we know we have an advocate .
As long as we continue to seek.

Lent is upon us. We seek the holy door.
It’s not so much as giving up than doing more.

……..

It’s more tenderness
Rather than mortification
That is the keystone

…….

See Joel 2 : 12-18

I look on everything as so much rubbish.
As long as I have Christ and being given a place in him.
Here is a real  worthwhile wish .
Here is no mere passing  whim.

As usual I was thinking on wasted opportunities.
A life that could have done so much more .
But I have to cope with my shortcoming realities.
Better to dwell on one’s spiritual core.

You have to live for today’s event.
Tomorrow will have its own challenge.
Tomorrow will be Lent.
Although my fast won’t be at all savage.

I can’t try for perfection on my own.
Everything comes from him  as a loan.

……..

Try for perfection
Just by your own  small efforts
That’s impossible

……

See Philippians 3: 8-14

I anyone of you is in trouble he should pray.

What can bring us happiness many say.

You are no more than a mist .

For anyone who has faith , anything is possible.

Love your enemies .

 
Be my protector , a mighty stronghold.
Lead me , guide me for the sake of your name .
In my dreams you me enfold.
Putting depression to shame .

When I dream of  my being I feel worried.
When I dream of loving I feel contentment.
So can I be less hurried .
And live more in the moment .

For God everything is simultaneous.
There is no future or past .
At our death we leave time and all that is extraneous.
We enter into the is , oneness at last .

Standing  that day in Fra Angelico’s cell
For that moment  I was free from all the pell- mell.

….

The cell was empty
Just a fresco on the wall
Telling a story

…….